Post-office furniture.



M. S. FIELD.

POST OFFICE FURNITURE.

APPLICATION rnnn MAB-.8, 1009.

1,035,869. Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

3 BHEBTB-SHEET 1.

M. S. FIELD.

POST OFFICE FURNITURE.

APPLIOATION FILED 1mm, 1009.

1,035,869. Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

24- E fg 2.9 a 3i 50 1L Y 8 10 i v [Y w bwwgea ,Fwezrfin M. S. FIELD.

POST OFFICE FURNITURE.

APPLICATION FILED NARA), 1900.

Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

9 2&76 2

.MARCELLUS S. FIELD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

POST-OFFICE FURNITURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

Application filed March 8, 1909. Serial No. 481,871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAnoELLUs S. FIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk,- and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Post-Ofiice Furniture, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like letters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to post-ofiice furniture and especially to the desks which are commonly used for routing and arranging the mail matter preparatory to its being bundled up for delivery by the letter carrier.

In my prior Patents No. 641,003, dated January 9, 1900, No. 7 32,345, dated June 30, 1903, and No. 753,865, dated March 8, 1904, I have shown a piece of post-ofiice furniture comprising a table and an assorting case (which is a case containing shelves divided by partitions into compartments) sustained above'the table and movable relative thereto. The assorting case is used in as sorting the letters and small mail matter, and when it is thus used it is either lowered or moved forwardly toward the front of the table so as to put it in a convenient position for the carrier to place the letters therein. IVhen the letters and small mail matter has been assorted, this case is elevated or pushed back out of the way, thus making it possible to use the entire top of the table in assorting and arranging the bulky mail matter. In the devices shown in my above-mentioned patents, the movement of the case from its lowered to its elevated position is accomplished entirely by hand, and where the case contains a comparatively heavy load of mail it is sometimes quite an exertion for the letter carrier to push or raise the loaded case into its elevated position.

One of the objects of my present invention is to provide a novel construction whereby the letter carrier can use his foot in assisting to move the loaded case from its lowered to its elevated position. I accomplish this object of the invention by pro viding the piece of furniture with a treadle arrangement which is suitably connected to the case so that by applying pressure to the treadle by means of his footthe letter carrier can more easily swing the case into the elevated position.

In all post-otlice furniture of this class with which I am familiar the artitions dividing the shelves ofthe case into compartments are rigidly sustained, and as a result each compartment has a definite size and cannot be readily expanded. It frequently happens that inassorting the mail a letter carrier finds that he has an unusually large mall for some particular designation and as a consequence the compartment corresponding to this point in the route is insufiicient to hold themail for such point. In my present invention I have provided a novel form of partition for the shelves which is elastic or resilient, so that any one of the compartments can be easily expanded or enlar ed if necessity requires. I have also provided a novel form of partition which Wlll effectively'hold either large or small letters and which will make it easy for the carrier to draw any letter from the compartment, regardless of its size.

My invention also includes a novel way of detachably supporting the partitions for the diflerent shelves, and a novel construction of case which embodies an auxiliary or additional shelf situated so that when 1t is extended it practically increases the useful area of the desk top.

My invention also comprises a novel manner of supporting the shelves whereby each shelf can be readily removed from the case if it is desired to transfer the mail matter thereon from one part of the building to another.

I will first describe some embodiments of my invention, and then point out the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure'l is a perspective view of a piece of post-office furniture embodying my invention; Fi 2 is an enlarged sectional view through t lde table and the lower part of the case showing one way in which the foot power may be applied for elevating the case; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a portion of the table top and the case situated above it; Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2 showing a modified form of the invention; Fig. 5 is a perspeclive view showing the manner in which the partitions may be formed; Fig. 6 is a detail showing the manner in which t-hepartitions are held in place, said figure being taken on the line .r-m, Fig. 1.

The complete piece of furniture comprises a table 3 of any suitable or,usual construcplaced for assortmg purposes, and a case situated above the table and provided withv shelves on which the mail is arranged as it is assorted. The case 5 may be sustained above the table in any suitable way, although I will preferably sustain it on the swinging supports such as shown in my former- Patent No. 735,865, dated March 8, 1904, or on swinging supports such as shown in my co pending application Se. No. 453,692, filed September 18, 1908. These swin ing supports for the case are shown at 6 an they are arranged to sustain the case in its elevated position shown in Fig. 1 or in full lines Fig. 2, or in its lowered position as shown in dotted lines Fig. 2 wherein the lower ends of the sides 7 of the case rest on the supports 8. 2 are springs connecting the lower end of thecase with the back board 11 of the table for steadying the movement of thecase and assisting to return it to itselevated position, all as shown in my former patents.

When the letter carrier is assorting and arranging the letters the case is in a lowered position where it is convenient, for him to reach the various compartments. When the letters are assorted and the carrier is arranging the heavy or bulky mail matter the case 5 is elevated into the full line position Fig. 1, thus leaving the entire table top accessible for use.

As stated above, one of the features of my invention relates to a novel foot treadle arrangement by which the carrier can assist himself in elevating the case by means of his foot. In the preferred embodiment of myinvention I accomplish this end by attaching to the lower side of the case 5 one or more flexible connections, 9, each of which passes over a direction pulley 10 secured to the back 11 of the table and over other direction pulleys 12 sustained underneath the table and leads to a treadle 13 which may conveniently be pivoted to the legs 14-of the table. The treadle 13 may have any suitable shape and may be sustained in any appropriate way. I have herein shown said treadle as being pivoted to a rod 15 that extends through the legs '14, but this construction is not essential, as any treadle device by which the carrier can use the power of his foot for assisting in elevating the case may be adopted without departing from the invention.

Referring to Fig. 2 it will readily be seen that when the case is in its lowered position as shown in dotted lines, the application ofpower to the treadle 13 will serve to pull the case backwardly into the full line position, and if desired this movement of the case may beaccomplished entirely by means of the treadle.

In Fig. 4 I have shown another embodiment of my invention wherein a system of leversare used for connecting the case to the treadle instead of the flexible connection 9. As shown in said figure the-swinging sup ports 6* for the case are provided with extensions 16 which are connected by links 17 to one arm of a bell crank lever 18 that is suitably pivoted to the table at 19. The other arm of said bell crank lever connects by a link 20 to the treadle 13. With this construction it will be seen that depressing the treadle will operate to' throw the case backwardly in the same manner as is accomplished by the construction shown in Fig. 2.

The case 5 is provided with a plurality of shelves 21 which are divided into compartments by partitions as usual. In my present invention I have made the partitions in such a way that the compartments between them are. capable of expanding. I accomplish this by connecting the partitions together with a resilient connection instead of fastening each partition rigidly to the shelf or to the back as has heretofore been done. While it ispossible to secure'this resilient connection between the partitionsin a variety of ways I prefer to do so by forming the partition from wire which is bent into a sort of spiral form. I prefer to make each partition of V- shape, as shown best in Fig. 2, wherein a partition is shown at 22. Fig. 5 shows best the manner in which the wire may be bent to form the partitions. Such wire is bent to form the series of V-shaped partitions 22 and the rear end of the upper arm of each partition is connected to the rear end of the lower arm of the next partition by a portion 23 of wire. The wire bent in this way is practically spiral, although it is bent with sharp angles so as to secure the desired shape for the partitions. When the wire is bent into this shape, any one of the partitions 22 can be moved toward or from the adjacent partitions because of the spiral shape of the wire, and any one of the compartments can be thus readily expanded to any desired capacity. For holding the partitions in place I propose to employ the construction shown best in Figs. 2, 3 and 6. After the wire is bent as shown in Fig. 5 to form a row of partitions, a board orslat 24 is inserted into the loops thus formed in such position as to lie flatly against the connecting portions 23 of the wire.. This board is preferably-of awidth so that its upper and lower edges engage the upper and lower legs, respectively of the partitions. After the board 24 is thus inserted its ends are set into notches 25 cut in the side pieces 7 of the case and a clamping board 26 is then secured to the back of the case. The space between these boards 24 and 26 is just sutli cient to freely receive the connecting portions 23 of the wire without clamping such portions sufliciently to prevent their free movement as any of the compartments are expanded or contracted.

In making the partitions I have endeavored to give them such a shape that they will firmly hold letters of any size but will at the same time make it as easy for a person to remove a small letter as a large .letter. The

clines downwardly to meet the outer end of, the lower leg at the apex 27. If a small letter is placed in any compartment one corner thereof will stand sufficiently above-the upper leg so that the carrier can reaily remove it, but since the lower leg extends horizontally for the full width of the shelf and is situated onl a slight distance above the shelf a smal letter will be held as securely as' a large letter.

It will be noted that the partitions 22 are sustained independently from the shelves 21.

'I prefer to make the shelves 21 removable from the sides 7 of the case. As herein shown the case is provided with grooves 28 into which the edges of the shelves may he slipped and each shelf can be readily withdrawn from its grooves. Each shelf has at 7 its rear end a back stop 29 which extends the length thereof and which is high enough to engage the back board 26 of the case. This back stop serves not only to prevent the shelves from being pushed backwardly to the case, but it also serves as a stop for the letters sustained by the case, so that when any shelf is removed the letters thereon will not slide off therefrom. Since the shelves 21 are made removable Ipropose to connect the two sides 7 of the case at their lower ends by means of a bottom board 30 which is rigidly, secured toeach of the sides. The upper ends of the sides 7 are connected by the top board 31.

In order to add to the usable surface of the desk, I propose to place an additional shelf 32 beneath the bottom board 30 of the case, which shelf 32 can be drawn out at any time when additional desk room is desired. This shelf is shown as slidably mounted on cleats or supports 33 sustained by the case, and these cleats may conveniently be those to which the swinging supports 6 are pivoted.

I have herein shown a series of pi eon holes 40 above the top removable shel 21, but it is not essential that the desk should have this construction.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In post-oiiice furniture, the combination with a table having two legs at its front side, of a case containing shelves sustained above the table, swinging supports for said case on which it may swing forwardly anddownwardly toward the table,

: nally thereof, and connections ,treadle and case whereby downward movea treadle extending across the front of the table and 'pivotally sustained by said legs to turn about an axis extending longitudietween the ment of the treadle will swing the ease up- 1 wardly and backwardly. lower leg of each partition extends substan- ,tially horizontally, and the upper leg in- 2. In post-office furniture, the combination with a table having two legs at its front side, of a case containing shelves sustained above the table, swinging supports for said case on which it may swin forwardly and downwardly toward the ta 1e, a treadle extending across the front of the table and pivotally sustained at its front edge, and connections extending from the rear edge of the treadle to the case whereby downward movement of the treadle will swing the case upwardly and backwardly.

3. In post-office furniture, the combina tion with a table, of a case having shelves situated above the table, a plurality of partitions for each shelf made from a single piece of wire bent into spiral shape and supporting pieces secured to the case and extending through the spirals.

4. In post-oifice furniture, the combination with a table, of a case having shelves situated above the table, and a plurality of wire partitions for each shelf, each partition being formed of wire bent to form a lower horizontally-projecting leg and an upper leg which is inclined downwardly from the back of the shelf to the front end of the lower leg 5. In post-o ce furniture, the combination with a table, of a case having shelves situated above-the table, a plurality of partitions above each shelf -nade from a single iece of wire bent spirally, each spiral havmg two portions occupying two planes at right angles to each other.

6. In post-oflice furniture, the combination with a table, of a case having shelves situated above the table, a plurality of partitions above each shelf made from a single piece of wire bent spirally, each spiral having a portion occupying a plane parallel to the back of the case and another portion occupying a plane at right angles to the back of the case and constituting the partition portion of the spiral.

7. In post-ofiice furniture, the combination with a table, of a case having shelves situated above the table, a plurality of partitions for each shelf made from a single piece of wire bent into spiral shape, and two strips 24, 26 extending longitudinally of the spiral and holding the latter in place.

8. In post-oiiice'furniture, the combination with a table, of a case having shelves situated above the table, a plurality of partitions for each shelf made from a single piece of wire bent into spiral shape, and two strips 24, 26 extending longitudinally of the spiral and holding the latter in place, one of said strips extending through the spiral. I

9. In post-oflice furniture, the combination with a table, of a case having shelves situated above the table, and a plurality of partitions for each shelf all made from a single piece of wire bent to present V- shaped partition portions and connecting portions which connect the upper leg of each partition with the lower leg of the adjacent partition.

10. In post-ofiice furniture, the combination with a table, of a case situated above the table and provided with shelves, a piece of wire bent into spiral shape and formlng partitions, a supporting piece extending through the spiral and secured to the side boards of the case and sustaining the partitions.

11. In post-office furniture the combination with a table, of a case above the table having a plurality of removable shelves and a pluralit of wire partitions for each shelf, each partition being made of a wire bent to form a lower horizontally-projecting leg and an upper leg which is inclined ownwardly from the back of the shelf tothe front end .of the lower leg.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses:

LOUIS 0. SMITH, FREDERICK S. GREENLEAF.

MARCELLUSS; FIELD. 

